fitness Archives - Biggs' Zone

FitBit: The Ending of an Era

On June 13, 2024

I recently talked about running my first half-marathon at the Flying Pig. I had fun doing it and I’ll think about if I want to do it again however it marks the end of an era. The half-marathon was my FitBit’s swan song. I am officially retiring my FitBit and it feels really weird; I have “phantom device” syndrome.

A few years ago I bought an Apple Watch but I kept using my FitBit because it had so much of my walking/running data that I didn’t want to give it up. Essentially I had two fitness devices and it was time for one to go.

Half-Marathon Achieved and the Future of Running

By Biggs

On May 22, 2024

In Fitness

I did it! Earlier this month I completed my first half marathon. This is the culmination of all the running I have been doing for the past 10 years. My journey here has had its challenges from weight issues and prescription painkillers to a global pandemic. This is, essentially, a bucket list item for me so where do we go from here? What does the future of running look like for me?

Biggs 2024 Goals

By Biggs

On January 8, 2024

In Intentions, New Year, Reading Challenge

Ahh, the notorious goals (or more colloquially known as resolutions). I will cover the usual three main areas of focus: Technical Skills, Reading Challenge, and Wellness. I’m hoping for a little more diligence on my part to really focus on all of these goals. I did pretty well last year but there were a couple of bumps along the way. So let’s set those 2024 goals, shall we?

Biggs 2022 New Years Intentions

By Biggs

On January 6, 2022

In General Cogitation

It’s that time again, time to make my 2022 New Years intentions. I made some progress in all of the areas in which I declared intentions in 2021. I will get into more details in each of their respective sections below. 2021 was not as challenging of a year as 2020 but it had its moments. This damn Covid virus continues to wreak havoc physically, mentally and emotionally. It has the country, and possibly the world, divided. Some are scared, some refuse to be afraid, and some just don’t know what to believe anymore. The media is at fault.

Forrest Gump Thats All I Have To Say GIFfrom Forrest Gump GIFs

Fitness Update; Beast Mode!

By Biggs

On July 13, 2021

In Fitness

About a month ago I wrote a mid-year review of my 2021 intentions. In that time I have made some changes to my workouts and running goals. As I said in that post, I have a strategy for improving my daily run distance to 6 miles a day. I am officially running that distance. Granted it’s not quite 6.2 (i.e. a 10k), however adding two-tenths of a mile is a very minor adjustment.

I have not run 9 miles on my push day, yet. I am still calculating how I can achieve that distance given the geography of my location. My hope is to try to hit that goal by mid-to-late August.

Beast Mode Engaged

So this brings me to the pre-workout. There are two areas I focus on as part of my pre-workout; core and strength training. Three days a week my pre-workout focuses on strengthening my core. I tried a few exercises while attempting to keep the reps and sets within 15-30 minutes.

Core Strengthening Exercises

This is the pre-workout Core exercise routine that is working well for me:

30 sec planks x 3
10 squats x 3
10 doorway rows x 3
1 minute farmer’s carry x 2
10 kettle bell swings (with a dumb bell) x 2

Strength Training Exercises

Then, two days a week, I focus on strength training. This is where I get a little intense. I initially started with doing push-ups, which I hate doing. Then I saw my sister and her husband doing burpees and I thought, well if they can do burpees then so can I. So I changed my push-ups to burpees.

Burpees suck as much as everyone says they do. They. Are. Hard. I changed my push-ups to burpees and I was doing that for about a week. Then someone told me about a similar exercise called the devils press, which is aptly named. It’s basically a burpee with dumbbells. Watch this short video to see how to do this exercise.

I changed my burpee to this exercise starting at 15 lb. dumbbells because my upper body is still a little weak. So this is my strength training routine:

6 Devils Press (burpee) x 3
10 Dumbbell Dead Lift x 3
10 Dumbbell Row x 3
8 Dumbbell Standing Curls x 2
8 Seated Dumbbell Tricep Extensions x 2

By the end of the week, assuming I complete all of these routines and my 6 miles each day, I feel pretty good. My body feels like I’ve had a decent workout and I’m not too sore or too tired. My goal is to stick to this routine for a couple months and see how I’m feeling by the fall.

/cheers

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

The (Belated) Bad Idea Birthday Challenge Post

By Biggs

On April 26, 2021

In Fitness, General Cogitation

I’ve been lazy. Actually I’ve been busy with a few real life things and I’ve been learning a new programming language. When I start something new like that, I get a little obsessed and I lose track of my other hobbies and activities. I’ve also been rebuilding my NAS server. I will write more about that stuff at a later time. My birthday was a month ago and I’ll be honest, I haven’t completed a Bad Idea Birthday Challenge this year and I don’t know if I will do one.

In the past years I’ve calculated a distance based on my age using some kind of conjured equation. First it was my age divided by 10, then it was my age in kilometers, divided by 10. Obviously the pandemic changed everything last year.

What’s In Store for 2021?

I don’t know. We are still trying to come out from under these pandemic restrictions so most races are still virtual, delayed or cancelled (again). I kind of made a fitness goal in my 2021 intentions by completing a 15k and I may still do that but I haven’t decided if I’m going to do it as part of an official run. My daily average is up to 5.3 miles with my farthest 2021 distance at about 7.3 miles. Perhaps it’s best if I make it a flexible challenge this year.

My new daily average goal is 6+ miles (roughly a 10K every day) and to finally break the 9 mile mark on a push day. I will try to sign up and complete some kind of organized race (virtual or in-person – I am fully vaccinated now). If something strikes me as a worthy “birthday challenge” then I can revaluate my goals. In the mean time, I guess my “bad idea birthday challenge” and my 2021 goals are one-in-the-same.

Also, a quick amusing side note. I’ve kind of become a neighborhood celebrity. People are always waving at me from their cars or their front yards so frequently it feels like I’m in a parade. A few people have commented on how much weight I’ve lost or ask far I run every day. I also receive many “thumbs up” and even the occasional applause. It’s actually quite motivating.

/cheers

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: fitness Page 1 of 7

FitBit: The Ending of an Era

Half-Marathon Achieved and the Future of Running

Biggs 2024 Goals

Biggs 2022 New Years Intentions